Heart of Disaster: A Titanic Novel of love and loss

by Rachel Wesson

  “What?” Kate pulled Mary to her feet. “Nell wrote to Sean? When?”

  “He didn't tell you?” Mary looked stricken. “I’m sure he meant to. He was ever so touched. Nell, well the priest writing on her behalf, told him she couldn’t think of a better man as a husband for you. She said you were the child of her heart. I remember that phrase as I thought it was beautiful.”

  Tears filled Kate’s eyes. She sent a quick prayer to heaven for Nell before turning to the woman who had become her closest friend.

  “Thank you, Mary, for everything.”

  “Ah, sure I did nothing you wouldn’t do.” Mary sniffed. “You’re welcome. I am so glad you will soon be an official part of our family. I just wish your friend Cathy could be here to see you.”

  Kate nodded. She’d been thrilled when Mr. Madden had written to say Cathy was out of Bellevue and on the way back to Galway. Reading between the lines of the letter, Cathy wasn’t back to her usual self, but the hope was with the love of her parents and family she would recover. They had put in a claim for Seamus’s life and the money paid had covered the cost of the passage.

  Kate patted the rosary beads in her pocket. They were never far away. Sean had made a special box for the clay Nell had given her. Nobody was allowed to make fun of that clay.

  “Are you ready?” Mary asked.

  Kate almost said yes but then remembered something. “I will be right back.” She gathered up her skirt and walked quickly out of the church toward the graveyard. Picking her way through the graves, she soon reached the tree at the edge of the graveyard. Her eyes misted over as she stared down at the marker.

  “Thank you, Daniel, for helping me. Because of you, I have found a man who loves the bones of me.” She kissed a flower from her bouquet and laid it on the ground in front of the simple cross, Sean had fashioned in memory of his brother. To the left of Daniel’s marker was another one. She laid another flower on this one dedicated to Margaret Rice and her five boys. “If God blesses us with children, I hope they are as good as your boys, Margaret.”

  Then with a last look behind her, she made her way back into the church to start her new life as Mrs. Sean Donnelly.

  Chapter 65

  Southampton, England. April 1913

  Gerry Walker sat with his arm around his wife Jean as they watched their baby boy, Tommy, play on a mat in front of the fire.

  “Are you missing the sea, Gerry?”

  Gerry glanced at the newspaper and cursed himself for bringing it home. Jean didn’t need to see it. “No, darling, not a bit. I am that grateful for my new job. It means I can see more of you and my boy, don’t it?”

  Any time the Titanic was mentioned, Jean got upset. He’d put it down to pregnancy and her being emotional, but it went deeper than that. Jean searched his face as if wondering if he was telling the truth. He took her hand and kissed it in an attempt to convince her.

  “That it does. I couldn’t bear you to go back to sea, Gerry. It would put the heart across me every time you set sail. I’ll never forget those days when we thought you and Tommy, God rest him, were dead. It was a miracle you came back to me and I swore I would never let you out of my sight again.” Jean turned to look him straight in the face. “Promise me you won’t ever get on a ship again.”

  Taking a deep breath, he put his hand tenderly on her face and kissed her gently. “Jeanie, you know I wouldn’t leave you out of choice but there may come a time when I will be told to go. If that happens, I will have to obey orders.”

  She snatched her hand away and got up from the floor to sit on the sofa.

  “You’re talking about the war again aren’t you. What is it with men? They can’t wait to march off to war.”

  She may sound angry, but he knew she wasn’t. Not really. She was terrified. She’d told him what it had been like, those first few days after news of the Titanic had broken. At first, the families had been told all survived but then the bad news had filtered through. Then he was kept in America for the inquiry and she’d admitted she’d got to the point where she didn’t believe she would see him again.

  He hadn’t known she was pregnant when he left to go on the Titanic. She’d told him later, she’d been scared stiff of what would happen to her. An unwed mother. He thanked his lucky stars he’d survived and returned home to make an honest woman of her as she called it. Their baby may have come early but at least he wouldn’t carry a stigma of illegitimacy for the rest of his life.

  He moved the baby back from the rug in front of the fire to his cot which was safer before taking a seat beside his wife.

  “Jeanie, I’ve no interest in going to war. I pray every night it won’t come to that, darling. But we can’t be blind either. But let’s not talk about that just now. Let’s enjoy our wee men and our lovely house. We’ve been incredibly lucky, Jean Walker.”

  “I just hope it stays that way.”

  Gerry cuddled his wife and hoped her dream came true, but something told him, life as they knew it was about to change all over again.

  Authors note

  While most of the characters in this book and the circumstances they found themselves in, prior to boarding the Titanic are fictional, their experiences on board are inspired by real-life events.

  In reality, the ordinary crew weren’t really represented at the Inquiry. Daniel Buckley, a Third Class passenger, was the only Irishman to give evidence at the actual American inquiry. Senator Smith interviewed ex-crew on board their new ships, including Fred Barrett on the Olympic.

  Buckley was one of the group who forced their way through the locked gates and up to the lifeboats. He boarded a lifeboat along with several other men. When the men were ordered out, at gunpoint, he lay on the bottom of the lifeboat. He credited Mrs. Astor with saving his life. She apparently threw a shawl over him, thus preventing anyone realizing he was there. Buckley joined the United States Army in 1917. He was killed by a sniper on 15 October 1918, while trying to retrieve wounded men.

  Conor’s experiences in the water are partly based on the true story of Patrick O’Keeffe, a young man from Waterford City. He had been living in America but returned to Ireland for a holiday to see his father. Patrick dreamt the Titanic would sink and his dream was so believable he tried but failed to sell his ticket. He sent a postcard to his family prior to boarding the ship.

  “I feel it very hard to leave. I am down-hearted. Cheer up, I think I’ll be alright – Paddy.”

  Patrick was still on board when the ship sank. He plunged into the sea from the steerage deck and pulled himself up onto what he described as a raft but was more likely capsized Collapsible B. He testified he pulled on an Englishman and a Guernsey Islander and then with their assistance they pulled on others from the water. According to local papers, he is credited with saving about twenty men and one woman. His claims were backed up by Harold Bride, the wireless operator from the Titanic, who told the tribunal a passenger appeared to be in charge of the raft. When Bride was asked how many were in the water trying to get onto the raft, his reply was ‘dozens’. Patrick arrived in New York, battered and bruised but alive. Locals in Waterford credit the fact he was a strong swimmer, who liked to swim in the cold Irish sea on Christmas Day, and his strength from his job as a porter, for his survival.

  The Rice family, who appeared in this story, were real-life victims of the Titanic. The five boys were aged from two to ten years. Margaret Rice’s body was recovered and buried but none of her children were ever seen again. In her personal effects were a gold locket with a picture and a lock of hair, presumably that of her husband, and her rosary beads. Various survivors mention hearing the children pray at mass on the Sunday and then seeing them on deck with their mother moments before the ship split in two.

  The French and Italian members of the catering staff were locked in their quarters and thus were prevented from leaving the ship. They were not officially crew as they didn’t work for the White Star Line but were employees of the restaurant. The members of re
staurant staff who did survive did so because everyone assumed, they were passengers.

  There is some controversy over whether the White Star officers shot and killed anyone on board. No bodies were recovered from the water with gunshot wounds. Irish survivors speak of shots being fired and men killed, they insist they were held back until the last possible moment and more would have survived if the women and children rule had been applied to Third Class. Letters from a First Class passenger, George Reims, were found which also suggest that officers shot people. There were also hints at least one of the officers committed suicide.

  The order to lower lifeboats came at 12:15 am - barely twenty five minutes after the strike. This was done more to comply with Board of Trade rules than a belief it would sink. However, the stokers and firemen from the front boiler rooms were among the first to be sent up top.

  The passengers were huddled together in groups praying. The priests led the prayers causing some third class passengers who survived to complain. They said the priests kept calling God to forgive the sinners when these same sinners should have tried harder to save themselves.

  The scenes depicted in the lifeboats combine elements from what occurred in different lifeboats on the Titanic.

  Captain Ronston is on record talking about thanking God for taking him safely through the ice - when he stopped to take on the lifeboats survivors, he counted circa 20 icebergs over 150 ft tall and lots of growlers - 10 to 12 ft high.

  The Carpathia and Californian met at 8:30 on Monday morning just as the last of the Titanic lifeboats were being brought aboard. The ships communicated by semaphore. Captain Rostron thought one lifeboat was unaccounted for. Captain Lord said he would search around for it. Unfortunately, no more survivors were found.

  A short prayer service took place on the Carpathia to thank God for the survivors and to pray for the dead. While this was going on, Captain Rostron maneuvered his ship around the wreck site. After about half an hour, he asked the Californian to continue the search. Captain Rostron sailed for some 56 miles to get around the ice before setting a course for New York.

  1912 was a very different era from today and although it is hard to believe, many Third Class passengers wouldn’t have expected to be treated any differently than they were. Some would have expected the boats to be filled in the following order – women and children then First Class men, Second Class men and so on.

  The survival rates testify to the fact that some sort of segregation was in force. All but one of the First Class children survived. The young girl who didn’t was kept on board with her mother and father.

  The children in Second Class were similarly saved yet almost two-thirds of the children in Third Class drowned.

  Acknowledgments

  This book wouldn’t have been possible without the help of so many people. Thanks to Erin Dameron-Hill for my fantastic covers. Erin is a gifted artist who makes my characters come to life.

  I have an amazing editor and also use a wonderful proofreader. But sometimes errors slip through. I am very grateful to the ladies from my readers group who volunteered to proofread my book. Special thanks go to Marlene, Cindy, Meisje , Janet, Tamara, Cindi, Nethanja and Denise Cervantes who all spotted errors (mine) that had slipped through.

  Please join my Facebook group for readers of Historical fiction. Come join us for games, prizes, exclusive content, and first looks at my latest releases. Rachel’s readers group

  Last, but by no means least, huge thanks and love to my husband and my three children.

  Also by Rachel Wesson

  Hearts on the Rails

  Orphan Train Escape

  Orphan Train Trials

  Orphan Train Christmas

  Trail of Hearts - Oregon Trail Series

  Oregon Bound (book 1)

  Oregon Dreams (book 2)

  Oregon Destiny (book 3)

  Oregon Discovery (book 4)

  Oregon Disaster (book 5)

  12 Days of Christmas - co -authored series.

  The Maid - book 8

  Clover Springs Mail Order Brides

  Katie (Book 1)

  Mary (Book 2)

  Sorcha (Book 3)

  Emer (Book 4)

  Laura (Book 5)

  Ellen (Book 6)

  Thanksgiving in Clover Springs (book 7)

  Christmas in Clover Springs (book8)

  Erin (Book 9)

  Eleanor (book 10)

  Cathy (book 11)

  Clover Springs East

  New York Bound (book 1)

  New York Storm (book 2)

  New York Hope (book 3)

  Writing as Ellie Keaton

  Women & War (World War II fiction)

  Gracie

  Penny

  Molly